Play, rewind, repeat
by elainefr
Summary: I don't know. This is based on a dream that I had whilst in one of my morbid moods. I just adapted the characters to suite the dream. I don't own Daria or anything other than the ramblings in my own mind. Enjoy or destroy...thanks for reading.


She flipped on the light as she entered her home. Everything was just as she'd left it…..for better or worse. She placed her keys and briefcase on the table and pressed the play button on the answering machine. His voice came on immediately.

 _"Hey Daria, I'm on my way home. If you need anything, you'd better call quickly; otherwise, I expect to see you wearing that black dress tonight. I gotta go Jesse's feeling 'talkative'," he chuckled slightly. "See you soon, I Love you."_

She smiled while hurrying to take her shower and get ready to see Trent.

"Why do you do this to yourself?" Jane asked as she went and sat the vase on the table.

She looked at couch seeing the slumped over form of her brother. He looked so deflated sitting there on the couch, his normally pale features, now gaunt and sallow.

She marched through the room and opened the blinds and allowed some light into the room. "You need to eat something." She went to the refrigerator that she correctly guessed was empty.

"Later…..just leave me for now." His request was hesitantly granted and Jane left for the supermarket and to give them some private time.

"Trent? Is that you?" Daria called from the bathroom.

"Yeah, I'm here."

"Is that Jane with you? Tell her no laughing at me in this dress…..it was your idea after all."

"She left. Come on out here, I could really use a pick me up right now." He let his head fall back against the sofa and closed his eyes. He smelled the light scent of the perfume that she wore for him and knew that she hovered above him. He opened his eyes and looked up at the face that had brought him so much joy.

"You look so tired, maybe you should just get some rest?" she looked at him closely. "Maybe we should get you to the doctor?"

"Nah, I've got all I need right here. Now come around here and show off how good you make that dress look."

She blushed as she rounded to the front of the couch so that he could see her in the dress that he'd bought her. It was a beautiful dress and it fit her like a glove. It was a black halter style with sequins all over. She wore her hair down in loose waves that she'd brushed until they were soft and flowing.

"You like?"

He motioned for her to do a pirouette, to which she complied.

"Let me hold you."

She sat in his lap and snuggled into the warmth of him.

"Was the gig okay?"

He nodded and traced the outline of her face.

"A gig's a gig," he said absently. Her hair felt like silk in his hands. "I've missed you."

"Me too," she kissed the side of his neck and then she kissed him on the lips. "

"Janey says Hi," he reclined even further and enjoyed this time. "I don't want to leave again."

She drew back to look in his eyes.

"You love your music, besides I can't imagine you not being a musician. We can manage; we'll just try and make the time that we do have together last as long as possible." She never wanted to be the cause of him giving up something that meant so much to him.

"I'll get Jesse to push back the next couple of shows and I could just stay here a while longer this time." He closed his eyes with a smile. He'd been on the road too long and he wanted nothing more than to stay here with her and just be. He loved music, yes, but sometimes the road life got to be lonely.

"Thought I'd find you here," Jesse's voice invaded Jane's wandering of the supermarket aisles. He glanced at the random items in the buggy that she'd selected.

"Hey…."

Her smile didn't reflect in her eyes he noticed, but why would it today anyway.

"Wanna catch a movie or something?"

She shook her head.

"It's okay to live your life Jane…"

"She was my best friend….. To be shot by an intruder….. She must have been so scared….. If only I had been there; I know that I could have done something." She had turned it over in her head a million times, but that had changed nothing.

Jesse hugged her and led her to sit on a bench outside the store. He let her indulge in this rare form of public emotion because she needed it. He stroked her hair gently. He had always had the softest spot for Jane because she was a tough as nails, what you see is what you get kind of person. He respected and adored her more than anyone could know. She looked into the comforting eyes of her old dear friend. The pain was still fresh and she doubted if it would ever lessen.

"What about Trent?" Jesse found it difficult to even ask the question.

Seeing the quiet struggle and ultimate defeat in her eyes made him hold her tighter. It had taken him a long time to come to terms with his best friend's death as well. Watching as he had wasted away feeling guilt ridden over Daria's death had been difficult, but when he and Jane had went to see him at the apartment that he had shared with Daria and found him sitting on the couch with that old black dress that he had bought her beside him, they had both been shattered at the lifeless image that had been left behind. The world had went cold for them and they'd clung to one another and the memories of the now lost friendships. Eventually reality had set in just in time for the anniversary of Trent and Daria's deaths. Jane had taken Trent's ashes back to the apartment and left it there. She could just imagine their spirits finding one another, even for a brief time and that was something that she needed to believe. That's why she'd kept the apartment and would continue to do so for as long as she could. She had told Jesse that she lived her life and she did, for 364 days of the year she lived and did what any 28 year old wanted and then some, but for that one day she mourned two of the greatest influences in her life. They stayed that way for a while longer and at midnight Jesse walked Jane back to the apartment. She entered alone and went to get urn that she'd left on the table and looked back at the room before exiting.

"See ya next year amiga….."


End file.
